I ordered an assortment of gems from Pehnec Gems a couple of weeks ago,
and have been enjoying them with Alan and Max since they came. Small
very sparkly objects give rise to a surprisingly strong emotional
response. The cubic zirconia are quite beautiful, very similar to
diamonds but a bit more colorful, and I'm also fond of the sapphire
and emerald (real but lab-grown).

Batteries

Slashdot linked my ThinkPad battery
page a few days ago. Still no response from IBM, which is really not
the behavior one expects from a reputable company.